Restaurants

FIVE

Description:

When chef Stéphane Tonnelier took over the kitchen at FIVE restaurant in the Hotel Shattuck Plaza in August 2013 (replacing Banks White, whose specialty was elevated Southern soul food), he gradually imposed his own culinary aesthetic, rooted in his French heritage and his nine years at Boulevard in San Francisco. He retained a few favorites from the Banks era, but FIVE’s “modern American bistro” designation now seems inadequate to capture Tonnelier’s experimental range. A wizard at combining market-fresh ingredients, balancing flavors, and juxtaposing textures, he packs the seasonally changing appetizer and main dish sections of the menu (about eight choices in each) with palate-teasing surprises. Serves breakfast, lunch (or brunch) and dinner daily.